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A review by writteninthestarwars
Crimson Climb by E.K. Johnston
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
3.25
Many thanks to Disney Books and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC for review!
After her failed attempt to escape Corellia with Han Solo, Qi'ra finds herself alone and forced even further back into the dark depths of the criminal underworld, where she must remember what it takes to survive. Even if that means embracing everything she once sought to escape.
I'm a Solo: A Star Wars Story girlie, so any addition to the characters from that movie is, in my opinion, a welcome addition to the Star Wars canon. Over the past few years, Qi'ra has become one of the more popular characters to rise from the story, so Crimson Climb isn't much of a surprise. Focusing on the immediate aftermath of Qi'ra and Han's first separation, this book tackles what should be a formative and painful time for the young woman left behind. And while I did enjoy certain aspects, I'm not sure the story as a whole added much more to Qi'ra's character than what we already have from other books and comics.
I make a distinction here between Qi'ra's 'character' and her 'story' because Crimson Climb does, of course, add previously unknown information about Qi'ra's life. To me, though, it doesn't equally expand on or further explore who she is, why she is, how she is — everything I find so interesting about her. I think much of this lack comes from the narrative style of, especially, the first half of the book. It's third person, but at times reads as more of a report of what's happening rather than a deeper dive into Qi'ra's thoughts and emotions. While this style sometimes works (i.e. Thrawn's POVs in Zahn's 2017 trilogy), in this book it left me a bit bored.
That being said, I did thoroughly enjoy all of the parts with Dryden Vos. In the acknowledgments Johnston says she had a great time writing Vos, and you can tell. His scenes with Qi'ra are tense and uncomfortable and add a layer of intrigue and exploration that was missing for me in all the other parts.
One other complement I have for this book is its ability to stoke the Qi'ra fire. I imagine readers, especially young ones, who encounter Qi'ra for the first or second time in Crimson Climb will walk away dying to get their hands on everything else about her. And I'm so, so glad they now have their pick from which to choose.
After her failed attempt to escape Corellia with Han Solo, Qi'ra finds herself alone and forced even further back into the dark depths of the criminal underworld, where she must remember what it takes to survive. Even if that means embracing everything she once sought to escape.
I'm a Solo: A Star Wars Story girlie, so any addition to the characters from that movie is, in my opinion, a welcome addition to the Star Wars canon. Over the past few years, Qi'ra has become one of the more popular characters to rise from the story, so Crimson Climb isn't much of a surprise. Focusing on the immediate aftermath of Qi'ra and Han's first separation, this book tackles what should be a formative and painful time for the young woman left behind. And while I did enjoy certain aspects, I'm not sure the story as a whole added much more to Qi'ra's character than what we already have from other books and comics.
I make a distinction here between Qi'ra's 'character' and her 'story' because Crimson Climb does, of course, add previously unknown information about Qi'ra's life. To me, though, it doesn't equally expand on or further explore who she is, why she is, how she is — everything I find so interesting about her. I think much of this lack comes from the narrative style of, especially, the first half of the book. It's third person, but at times reads as more of a report of what's happening rather than a deeper dive into Qi'ra's thoughts and emotions. While this style sometimes works (i.e. Thrawn's POVs in Zahn's 2017 trilogy), in this book it left me a bit bored.
That being said, I did thoroughly enjoy all of the parts with Dryden Vos. In the acknowledgments Johnston says she had a great time writing Vos, and you can tell. His scenes with Qi'ra are tense and uncomfortable and add a layer of intrigue and exploration that was missing for me in all the other parts.
One other complement I have for this book is its ability to stoke the Qi'ra fire. I imagine readers, especially young ones, who encounter Qi'ra for the first or second time in Crimson Climb will walk away dying to get their hands on everything else about her. And I'm so, so glad they now have their pick from which to choose.